


All Through the Night

by blakefancier



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-25
Updated: 2011-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-18 16:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/190727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier





	All Through the Night

Darkness made even the quietest of whispers deafening. Blake sat pressed against the cold, dank wall of the cellar and listened to the sounds around him. Somewhere in the small room someone was dying. He could hear the smothered moans and whimpers of death, the restless thrashings. Someone else was whispering prayers--oh god, who reigns in the heavens, hallowed be your name. And not far from him an infant cried. Its mother sang and if he listened closely he could make out some of the words.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word..."

Blake shifted and ignored the lancing pain in his shoulder. Quietly, very quietly, he whispered his own lullaby.

*****

She held him tight against her, rocking him gently and singing, "Sleep my child and peace attend thee, all through the night. Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber sleeping. I my loving vigil keeping, all through the night."

His head was tucked under her chin and he watched the bright points of light on his bedroom walls while sucking gently on his fingers. She said they were stars and, using her very own star-mover, she had brought them down just for him. The star-mover  
looked exactly like a holo-sphere. He sighed when she stopped singing. She kissed the top of his head.

"Someday, Roj, you'll see the stars as they were meant to be seen; as a backdrop to the moon. I wish you could see how amazing they look." She shifted and gently rubbed his back with her hand."I'll take you to Daenera III someday. I'll take you to meet your  
Grandmother and all three of your Grandfathers, and your aunts and uncles and cousins. Then I'll bundle you up dear heart and take you to my thinking spot."

He pulled back to look at her face and she smiled at him. He took his fingers from his mouth and smiled back.

"I used to stay there all night sometimes. It would be so cold that my cheeks would tingle and my eyelashes would be wet with dew. The stars looked so far away. So far away that I'd wonder how we ever imagined we could navigate among them. They looked so cold and unattainable. And yet, every time I watched them I couldn't help but stretch my hand to them, to see if I could touch them." She pushed his head back under her chin and stroked his cheek with a finger. "Can you touch them?"

He reached out his hand and was surprised when a bright point, a star, landed on his palm.

*****

"While the moon her watch is keeping, all through the night. While the weary world is sleeping, all through the night." He let the song dwindle away to nothing and leaned his head back against the wall.

He wondered if help would come. He wondered if they were even alive. The battle had sounded fierce last time he spoke with Tarrant and the others. He could hear the explosions in the background. But Avon promised to come back, and Blake would hold him to that.

Avon promised. He placed his good hand against his stomach, like he always did when he thought of Avon, and covered the scar tissue with his palm.

The child had finally quieted, and the mother's song no longer filled the air. In the darkness someone sobbed, then began to cry.

There was a shuffling, and then a figure crouched at his side.

"Dayna. What is it?" It hurt to move and he was so tired.

Dayna peeled his shirt back from his shoulder and exchanged the bandage for a fresh one. "Koni's dead."

He closed his eyes and swallowed back the tears. He wanted to protest that Koni was only fifteen. "Cover his body with a blanket and--and take it outside."

She made a soft sound of protest. "There are wild animals out there."

"And children in here. Put one of the wounded in the empty cot."

Dayna touched his forehead lightly. "You're feverish. Why don't you use it?"

"No, I'm fine. There are others who are worse off." He opened his eyes and stared at her. "Just do it, Dayna. Please."

She nodded and left.

*****

She laid him gently on his bed and tucked him in. She smoothed back the hair from his forehead and kissed him. "Close your eyes and go to sleep now, dear heart."

He wiggled under the covers, until only his eyes and the top of his head peeked out.

She smiled at him and hummed softly under her breath. When she reached to switch off the star-mover he made a sad sound in his throat and shook his head.

"What is it? You don't want me to turn it off?"

He nodded and put his thumb in his mouth.

"You're a little old for a night-light."

He shook his head and wiggled four fingers at her. He was only that many standard years.

She sighed. "All right, but only until Daddy come home. Now close your eyes and I'll tell you a story."

He closed his eyes.

*****

He was tired and cold, and it worried him that his shoulder was becoming numb. The smell of blood and fear permeated the room. If the others did not come soon, he wasn't sure what he would do. He wasn't sure how he was going to get everyone to safety. They'd have to leave the wounded. And he didn't want to think about the children.

He looked around the room and caught Dayna's eye. She came over to him and sat next to him.

"I took care of the body. I hid it in the bushes so that no one would stumble over it." Her voice was a furious whisper.

He ignored her anger. "How many seriously wounded?"

"What do you mean?" Dayna stared at him, her eyes gleaming in the dim light.

"We can't stay here much longer, you know that. We can't risk it." He reached out and grasped her hand in his. It was hot to the touch.

"We have six people who are seriously wounded, too wounded to be moved. Another ten who are mobile, but they'll slow us down. There are four children under the age of five, two of them infants. If the others don't come soon and the Federation finds us--" She broke off. "I have some weapons that will help."

"Am I one of the six?" he asked.

"What?"

"Am I one of the six in your count of the seriously wounded?"

She looked away, into the darkness of the room. "Yes."

He nodded and said, "Tell me about Sarran. Tell me how the stars looked when you gazed up at them."

******

"Once upon a time, there lived a young girl. And this young girl loved to built things," she started.

He squirmed delightfully and opened his eyes. He loved it when she talked about her childhood.

"This young girl lived near creek. She would spend hours there, sometimes," she smiled at him, "sometimes she would even skip classes to go down to the creek and play."

He reached out his hand and touched one of the stars on his wall, letting the shadows of his fingers bisect and then cover it.

"One night she decided to built a dam. Though she loved the sound of the water rushing across the stones of the riverbed, sometimes it reminded her of laughter, her need to build things overpowered everything else." She chuckled quietly and caught his hand in hers. "And so she worked all night, until the water flooded and created a pool of water. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever done. The stars and moonlight reflected off the water and she danced among them, singing a lullaby."

He sighed and closed his eyes, she sang again.

"O'er thy spirit gently stealing, visions of delight revealing. Breathes a pure and holy feeling." She had the most beautiful voice, warm and loving. It always made him feel safe and drowsy.

He fell asleep before he could hear the ending. It wasn't until years later that he learned how she had almost flooded her family's grain fields. How she had been found and punished. How her fathers' boots and axes had dismantled her dam.

*****

Dayna was startled by his request.

"They're just stars, Blake. Try and get some rest." Then she patted his hand and left.

He closed his eyes and wiggled his fingers until his chest and arm burned with pain.

The child was crying again and the mother shushed it. It cried harder and she began singing the lullaby again. He let the song wash over him, like he had done with his own mum's lullaby.

He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was awakened by the sound of the cellar door opening. He grabbed his gun, holding it tightly in his good hand.

A figure in black stumbled through the door and almost fell down the steps--Avon. And with him was a small unit of soldiers and med-techs.

He loosened his hand and let it and the gun rest on his lap.

Avon came to him, straight to him.

"What took you so long?" he rasped, his mouth suddenly very dry.

Avon's eyes narrowed. "If I had knowing you were going to cock things up I would have been here sooner."

He smiled and Avon helped him to his feet. He spared one more glance around the cellar, making sure that everyone was doing his or her job.

"You might want to lose a few kilos, Blake."

He leaned all the more heavily on Avon. "Don't blame me for all the time you spend sitting behind a computer terminal."

Avon snorted but didn't say anything more.

Soon they were out in the cool night air, the sky was clear and the moon was full. Blake could see his own breath.

"Wait," he said. "Wait."

Avon stopped. "We should get to the shuttle. It's not far but I'd rather not take any chances."

"Wait." He looked up at the night sky, at the stars, which were a twinkling backdrop to the luminous moon, and reached out his hand.

*****

Love, to thee my thoughts are turning  
All through the night  
All for thee my heart is yearning,  
All through the night.  
Though sad fate our lives may sever  
Parting will not last forever,  
There's a hope that leaves me never,  
All through the night.


End file.
